1.8 The cost of Tryon Palace

Report to Governor William Tryon, reprinted in The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 7. Edited by William L. Saunders. Raleigh, N.C.: J. Daniels, 1887.

A rough calculation of the expense of a mansion house executing at Newbern for the governor of North Carolina for the time being.

Turning in the Lotts	£55
Digging the Foundation	£15
Bricks and Lime	£1250
Bricklayers Work	£600
Boards and Scantling, including Mahogany for ye Staircase	£600
Carpenters and Joiners Labour, including Nails and Brads	£1900
Plastering, including Lime, Lath, Nails, Labr, and Stucco Work	£900
Sashes, Glass, Skylights, Lead and Plumbers Labour to Gutter &c, and Six Stacks of Lead pipes	£1100
Chimney pieces, and Stone Steps to two Fronts	£600
Painting inside and outside, Including Oil and Colours	£550
Locks, Hinges, Fastenings, Screws, and Smiths Work about the Roof &c	£650
Labourers time attending Workmen and levelling Grounds	£200
Shingles	£45
Paving the Cellars, and Area, Area Wall and pallisadoes Do	£200
Digging and laying drains from the House, and Making Reservoir Labour and Materials	£400
To the Superintendant for four years overseeing and directing the Works of the House, Officers &c	£1200
	£10265
Twelve Lotts of Land for the Building purchase not yet Completed estimated at	£400
	£10665

Expence of the two Wings or Offices of the said House, Including Collonade, dwarf Wall, and Pallisadoes to form the Court.

Digging the Foundations	£20
Brick and Lime	£900
Scantling and Boards	£500
Carpenters and Joiners Labour, including Nails and Brads	£780
Bricklayers Word	£400
Locks, fastenings, and Smiths Work	£190
Glass and painting including the painting of the Shingles on the Roof	£250
Shingles	£55
Two Wells with Pumps Compleat	£40
	£3135
Circular Collonade, with Wall, Columns, paving, Cornice, and Roof &c	£750
Dwarf Wall, Pallisadoes, piers, Gates &c, to form a Court Yard	£160
	£4045

• Next: Chaos in Hillsborough

Sources

For more about the Regulators and the lack of money in colonial North Carolina, see Marjoleine Kars, Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002).

Contents: Revolutionary North Carolina

Chapter 1: The Regulators

• Next: Chaos in Hillsborough
• Previous: Songs of the Regulators

As you read

Tryon Palace

Tryon Palace was built between 1767 and 1770 to serve as the capitol of the colony of North Carolina and the residence of its governor.

The palace was 198 feet wide, built of red brick with marble trimmings. In front it faced the town of New Bern, while in back it overlooked the Trent River, and formal gardens were arranged around it.

Inside, the rooms were grouped around wide staircases, including a council chamber (room where the governor’s council, the upper house of the legislature, met) and a large formal dining room. The rooms had elaborate doors and windows and hand-carved woodwork, and many had decoration of white marble. The entrance hall had space set aside for four statues, lit by a cupola in the roof. The second floor had seven bedrooms as well as dressing rooms for the governor’s wife and daughter. Other rooms included a library and various servants’ quarters. Underneath the main structure was an extensive basement with plumbing and drainage systems, that used eight tons of lead and included brick sewers (unique for that time) leading to the river.

“Here, Sir, you betrayed your trust”

The capitol cost much more money than had been anticipated — nearly 15,000 pounds, as you can see here, which was a tremendous amount of money in colonial North Carolina. The taxes raised to pay for the building angered residents of the Piedmont who were already upset about high taxes and government fees.

Judge Maurice Moore later wrote letters to the Virginia Gazette, under the name of Atticus, in which he blamed Tryon and his capitol for the troubles in the backcountry. The Governor, he wrote, had “changed the plan of a province-house for that of a Palace, worthy the residence of a prince of the blood, and augmented the expense to 15,000 pounds. Here, Sir, you betrayed your trust, disgracefully to the governor and dishonorably to the man.”

How much was £15,000?

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to say how much £15,000 in 1770 was worth in “today’s money.” For comparison, consider that a schoolmaster’s salary might be about £60. Tryon Palace then cost 250 years’ of a teacher’s salary — which would be between $10 and $15 million today. But also consider that a backcountry farmer might struggle to come up with the cash to pay his taxes, and that he would likely have lived in a house he built himself. A horse might cost 10 shillings, and would have been a significant investment.

It’s also important to consider the amount of money in the colony available to pay taxes. According to one estimate, by 1768, there was only five shillings — one-fourth of a pound — in circulation in North Carolina for every inhabitant. In 2007, there was more than a trillion dollars in circulation in the United States, or about $3000 per inhabitant. Considering how much money was actually available in the colony, spending £15,000 worth of tax money on Tryon Palace would be like spending $180 million today. And this was a time governments were far, far smaller than they are today.

Learn more

• Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens The palace was largely destroyed by fire in 1795 but was rebuilt to the original plans beginning in the 1950s. The website includes virtual tours of the buildings and grounds.
• The value of money in colonial America This article explains the many kinds of money that circulated in colonial America and why it is nearly impossible to say what they were worth "in today's money."
• History of Tryon Palace From the North Carolina Division of Archives & History.

Related topics

• Search LEARN NC for more resources on North Carolina, Tryon Palace, William Tryon, architecture, colonial, economics, history, and politics.

A “digital textbook”

LEARN NC’s digital textbook for North Carolina History uses primary sources and multimedia to tell many stories about the past, not just one.

Part three covers the era of the American Revolution, including the Regulators, the resistance to Great Britain, the War for Independence, and the creation of new governments.

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